Codinaeopsin, an antimalarial fungal polyketide.

A new tryptophan-polyketide hybrid, codinaeopsin, was isolated from an endophytic fungus collected in Costa Rica. The structure of codinaeopsin, which was deduced from NMR and mass spectral data, contains an unusual heterocyclic unit linking indole and decalin fragments. Codinaeopsin is active against Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most lethal form of malaria (IC50 = 2.3 microg/mL or 4.7 microM).